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Filter Maintenance

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I have a new tank that has been running about 3 months. How do I maintain the filter medium? I've read that I should rinse it off in the tank water that I remove during a water change? Is the correct and how often should I do this? How do I know when to change the medium? I have an Aqueon 75 filter.

I started with an aqueon filter, what I did is change the cartridge every month.
In the aqueon the bacteria lives in the "bio holster" (blue plastic where the cartridge fit) and the wet/dry outing of the water (blue plastic as well) this is what you want to preserve those parts should not come in contact with unconditioned water, so I always just rinsed them gently into tank water.

if in doubt as to where your bacteria grow, rinse it all in old tank water - gentle rinse to get rid of the worst of the gunk, give sponges a bit of a squeeze to get rid of solid matter. Once a month or so seems to work fine for me, or unless you see a noticeable drop in flow as previously pointed out

I started with an aqueon filter, what I did is change the cartridge every month.
In the aqueon the bacteria lives in the "bio holster" (blue plastic where the cartridge fit) and the wet/dry outing of the water (blue plastic as well) this is what you want to preserve those parts should not come in contact with unconditioned water, so I always just rinsed them gently into tank water.

These were great videos, thanks. This is probably a really stupid question, but do the bacteria really live on the plastic? It seems like they would live in the filter pad itself, but I'm no scientist. Is the bacteria like a slime coating on the plastic pieces? (bio holder and that other plastic piece)

These were great videos, thanks. This is probably a really stupid question, but do the bacteria really live on the plastic? It seems like they would live in the filter pad itself, but I'm no scientist. Is the bacteria like a slime coating on the plastic pieces? (bio holder and that other plastic piece)

I think you are right they are also living on the pad it is a logical place for them to establish (can seem silly allowing the bacteria to grow on a piece to be replaced every so often). And yes every time I had to clean to bio holster from mulm (I believe is the name of that brown slime) I was afraid I killed many bacterias. So out of distrust and because of my tap water, I did add a couple biomax bags 20 behind the cartridge and ended up "annoying" the water flow.

Now that said, I never had any problem with the filter itself, i think it is a good filter, not as versatile as the aquaclear that's it.

I think you are right they are also living on the pad it is a logical place for them to establish (can seem silly allowing the bacteria to grow on a piece to be replaced every so often). And yes every time I had to clean to bio holster from mulm (I believe is the name of that brown slime) I was afraid I killed many bacterias. So out of distrust and because of my tap water, I did add a couple biomax bags 20 behind the cartridge and ended up "annoying" the water flow.

Now that said, I never had any problem with the filter itself, i think it is a good filter, not as versatile as the aquaclear that's it.

In reading some of the other posts in the forum, I'm intrigued by the ceramic media like BioMax Balls for my filter. Do I just put them in the part of the filter prior to the pads? Seems like there is a lot of room for them and you can never have enough good bacteria.

Also, I'm running the Aqueon 75 on a 55g right now. In order to provide extra filtration is it worth it to add a small 20 or 30 gallon filter to the other side of the tank or should I just double the capacity with another 75? I have a lot of small fish (see signature below) and I am worried that there may be too much suction going on for them to be comfortable if I have two 75's running. That may be a silly thought, but that's why I'm in the Beginner's Forum. ;-)

Personally I have always had double the filtration for the tank size. You will see I also have loads of small fish and they actually seem to enjoy the extra water flow, also if 1 pump fails I wont end up losing all my B/Bacteria and filtration

the more bio rings you have the more room for B/Bacteria if you need it.

I have read that the ceramic bio rings or balls should be placed 'after' the pads and closest to the exit point of the water and I have read the opposite, that they should be before. If my filter has two pads, can some go in between? What do you guys do?